


(Does your conscience bother you) Tell the Truth

by bex_xo



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Sweet Home Alabama Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, I had great tags on this and AO3 deleted them, Jon is stubborn, Sansa is lying to herself, did i mention angst? because there is a lot of that going on, some romance in here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 15:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10027772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bex_xo/pseuds/bex_xo
Summary: Jon finds her curled up on the sofa, Ghosts head pillowed in her lap while she leafs through some art magazine she found on the coffee table.“Hello honey, I’m home.” Jon deadpans as he sets his keys in the bowl by the door, his hands coming to rest on his narrow hips as his lips set into a smug smirk.She would be lying if she said her heart didn’t clench a little at the sight of him.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> for my darling beyondmythought_s thank you for being the Jaime-Lynn to my Britney and the Ashley to my Mary-Kate, love you❤︎

A thunder and lightning storm unlike anything Sansa had ever seen rolled into Wolf Creek Alabama the summer she was 10 years old. Her brother Robb and his best friend Jon had been playing on the beach down the road from Winterfell Plantation when the sky darkened and her mama asked her to go fetch the boys before they got stuck in the storm. Ever the dutiful daughter, the 10 year old raced down the dirt path where she had last seen the two 12 year olds heading when she heard the first crack of lightning.   
  
Reaching the beach as the wind started whipping, Sansa screamed as loud as she could the name of her brother and his friend, all for Robb to come running like hell on wheels past her and towards the house with Jon following at a more casual pace.

The grey sky was mesmerizing and Sansa couldn’t help but be rooted on spot as the gulls cried around her and the waves broke against the sand. The sky light up just like it did on July 4th, only this time she didn’t have her daddy to cower behind or have Robb to make fun of her. She suddenly felt very brave.  
  
“It’s beautiful.” She heard someone say behind her, turning to see that Jon Snow was still very much in her company.   
  
Jon Snow, the same boy she’s been harboring a crush on since the start of summer.   
  
“Mama says it’s dangerous to be out here in a storm like this.”  
  
“Doesn’t make it any less beautiful.” Jon says as lightning strikes mere feet from where the stand, causing Sansa to scream and turn to run.   
  
“No, no! Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice.” Jon says, grabbing her hand and dragging her to spot of the scorched earth that is still smoking.  
  
Standing just outside the blackened spot on the ground, Jon doesn’t let go of her hand while the lightning continues to strike up and down the beach. Sansa knows they need to head back to the house, but it’s just too beautiful out here with Jon and leaving doesn’t seem like the safest idea.   
  
Plus holding Jon’s hand feels oddly right, even if she was only 10.   
  
“Sansa, I’m gonna marry you someday.” Jon announces with a sly grin on his face, pulling her just a fraction closer and she can feel her face flush deep red.  
  
“Why would you want to marry me for, anyhow?”  
  
“For starters, you’re the bravest girl in all of Wolf Creek to stand out here in this storm.”  
  
“Oh really? What else?” She teases.  
  
“So I can kiss you anytime I want.” Jon says, sweetly pressing his lips to hers, in a chaste kiss as lightning struck a few feet away again and the rain finally started to pour from the sky.   
  
Both shrieking, they tore off towards Winterfell Plantation. Looking back, that day was the very start. They didn’t kiss again, not until Sansa was 13 under the magnolia tree in her mother’s garden, but their friendship shifted then. They became inseparable, even more so than Robb and Jon were, and everyone knew that one day, Jon Snow would marry Sansa Stark and there was no use fighting it.   
  
\---------------  
  
It should have been the single best moment of Sansa’s life.

  
Surrounded by glass cases filled with opulent diamond rings at Tiffany’s in New York City, Willas looks dashing as ever in his suit, and tells her to take her pick of engagement rings. A glass of champagne somehow appears in her hand as a jeweler shows her multiple sets of rings, and Willas tucks up against her side with the biggest smile she’s ever seen on his face.   
  
It is magical.   
  
Or, well, it would be magical if she could stop thinking about Jon Snow.   
  
Pig headed, no good for nothing, refused to sign their divorce papers for the last seven years Jon Snow.   
  
“Are you alright sweetheart?” Willas asks later on the limo ride back to his loft, where they no doubt will be bombarded by a party of their close friends, including Willas’ Grandma Olenna, who just so happened to be the mayor of their beloved city.   
  
How Olenna hasn’t been able to drag up that Sansa Stone is actually Sansa Stark, she’ll never know.   
  
“Yeah Wills, I was just thinking that maybe this would be a good time to go visit my parents, that’s all.”  
  
“Your parents? In Alabama? That you haven’t seen in years because they didn’t approve of your running off to the big city? You’ve made it this far without them sweetheart, why do you need them now?” Willas, of course, didn’t know her parents lack of support came out of loyalty to Jon.   
  
Jon, who she was still technically married to.  
  
Jon, who she had to go see to make forcibly sign the damn divorce papers so she could get married, again.   
  
“Oh Willas. It’s not like I don’t talk to my parents, or that they are completely clueless to my life here. They wanted the best for me, we just happened to disagree on what that was.”   
  
Her parents thought the best for her was Jon; she thought the best for her was a fashion empire in New York City.   
  
“It’ll be a short trip baby. A week’s top. Then I’ll be home, and we can start planning the event of the year.” Sansa ends the conversation with a press of her lips to Willas’, knowing he won’t try and fight her on this. Willas is utterly devoted to her, in a way that his Grandmother wishes he would devote to his political career.   
  
“Grandmother was over joyed when I told her what I was doing.” Willas starts to tell her, as Sansa nods in agreement while trying to remember where exactly those papers from her lawyer were in her apartment.   
  
\------  
  
A week later Sansa steps down off the steps of the Tyrell family plane, which Olenna insisted she take down here instead of flying like a commoner, on to the tarmac at the sad excuse of what Wolf Creek Alabama considers an airport.   
  
“Just call when you’re ready to come home and we’ll send the plane.” Willas had told her while kissing her goodbye a few short hours ago.   
  
Hopefully she could get this done in a few short hours and head back to New York tomorrow, Willas none the wiser.   
  
“Well look what the cat dragged in. Sansa Stark, is that you?” A voice says from behind her, causing her to spin around on her heeled foot and nearly fall over.   
  
A strong set of arms catches her before she topples to the ground, and she finds herself looking up at a familiar face obscured by the bushiest red beard she has ever seen.   
  
“Tormund!” She squeals, wrapping her arms around the neck of her burly once friend.   
  
“Little Red, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. The city seems to have done well for you, Sansa _Stone_.” Tormund says with a knowing smirk, picking up her bags from where they were unloaded and walking them towards a beat up old pick-up truck.   
  
She follows closely behind, wishing she had the foresight to have dressed in something else, no matter how cute she looked in the black on black combo she picked out from her closet this morning. Her bags had plenty of warmer weather options though, she just needed to get back to her parents home to change before she went to see Jon.   
  
“You’re husband know you’re here?” Tormund asks her after they have pulled out onto a long stretch of abandoned back roads.   
  
“Jon is not my husband in anything but the technical sense.” She tells him with a look, which causes a big laugh to escape his throat. “Considering I only called my parents this morning to tell them I’d be coming, I’d say no. Which is plenty fine by me. I don’t need him running his ass off somewhere and ducking out of signing my damn papers, again. I’m engaged, to a wonderful man, and I can’t be planning a wedding while I’m still married to someone else.”  
  
“Be happy your mama was the one that answered your call Little Red, if it had been your daddy he would have sent Jon on over to collect you. Lucky for you, Mrs. Stark is much more sensible about these things and decided to send someone she could trust.”   
  
“It was Brienne’s day off, wasn’t it?” Sansa deadpans.   
  
“Sure is.” Tormund grins, sliding a pair of Walmart aviators on before turning up the radio.   
  
Sansa pulls her own pair of Ray-Bans out of her purse, putting them on before settling back against the worn leather of the passenger’s seat and watching miles of road stretch out in front of her.   
  
\----  
  
Mama insists on her taking her old room, still decorated the same as it was when she moved out after her and Jon eloped a few weeks after her high school graduation. It felt like a shrine, posters faded on her tack board, dog eared copy of Vogue on her nightstand, a framed photo of her kissing Jon on the cheek from his graduation two years prior to hers on the vanity. The sheets had been freshly laundered, and she noticed that a lot of the clothes she had left here were gone, or more likely commandeered by Arya the moment Sansa had made her move to her house with Jon.   
  
“I know you’re probably wanting to see your father, but he’s off in the fields today. He’ll be back for supper, Tormund was headed out to meet him after he dropped you off, so he will know you’re here.” Her mama says from the doorway, eyes still red from the tears she cried when she first saw her eldest daughter again.   
  
“He won’t come up earlier you think?” Sansa asks, already knowing the answer she’s going to get.   
  
“You know how your father gets. Winterfell has been a part of this family for decades, and he is very hands on with the running of plantation. Hell, that’s half the reason I was able to have Tormund go to the airport to get you in the first place, your father already being out of the house for the day by the time you called.” Catelyn Stark tells her, fixing Sansa with a glare that’s enough to almost shame her for lack of manners.   
  
“It was 6:30 am your time Mama, I knew you’d be awake. It’s not like I showed up unannounced.”  
  
“Be happy it wasn’t your father picking up your phone call. He would have sent that husband of yours to the airport instead of one of his crop foreman.”  
  
“Mama, Jon is not my husband, at least he hasn’t acted much like one in years, so please stop calling him that. But it may have made my trip a whole lot shorter, could have got him to sign the papers right on the plane and been headed back to New York by now.” Sansa says, grinning so her mama knows she’s teasing. Catelyn throws the dishtowel from her shoulder at her, laughing as she shuts the door behind her.   
  
Sansa peels out of the black top and pencil skirt combo she wore down, shimming out of the later as it clings to her hips. Her long red hair is no longer pin straight, but instead has started to gain a small amount of curl at the bottom from the heat, and from years of experience she knows no amount of hair product can save her now, so she pulls it back from her face and sets about finding the perfect outfit.   
  
Not because she wants to impress Jon or anything.   
  
Okay, maybe she wants to impress him a little bit. But not in that way. She simply would like to a) show him what he’s been missing and b) make him regret not following her to New York City all those years ago.   
  
Nothing wrong with that right?  
  
\------  
  
She finds herself at the only place she would half consider finding Jon that wasn’t their... _his_ house, an old dusty bar and grill called Rayder’s. Jon had bussed tables here while he was still in high school and then after his graduation while majoring in art at the University of Mobile; she used to come in after class let out at the high school and order an ice cold Coca Cola with Jeyne Poole and Beth Cassel just so she had an excuse to see her boyfriend.   
  
It seems like a different world in here now. Mance has updated a little since Sansa headed north, which is to say it looks like the early 00’s in here instead of the 90’s, and the haze of cigarette smoke no longer clouds over the entirety of the bar.   
  
She tucks her Ray Bans up in her hair, sweeping the long red tresses over her left shoulder before settling down into one of the stools at the bar.   
  
Sansa about falls out of her seat when the bartender turns around and it’s her childhood friend Jeyne Poole. Specifically, it’s Jeyne Poole with an infant wrapped to her chest.   
  
“Sansa Stark?” Her once friend asks, eyes growing big but voice staying small so as to not wake up her baby.   
  
“In the flesh. Jeyne, it’s so good to see you!” She says, sliding off her seat and walking towards the end of the bar, attempting to hug her friend without waking up her baby.   
  
“Who is this?” Sansa asks, gesturing to the baby in question.   
  
“This is my daughter Sarra.” The brunette says with a small smile, pressing a kiss to the top of the babies head. Sansa takes notice of the thin silver band Jeyne wears on her left hand, and tries to remember the last boyfriend her friend had before she left for New York.   
  
“You didn’t marry Theon Greyjoy, did you? Oh my gosh! Jeyne! That’s so exciting!” Sansa squeals once the realization comes to her.   
  
Jeyne scoffs.   
  
“Oh god no. Theon went back to the Navy shortly after you left, and I wasn’t about to just mope around Wolf Creek. Beth and I got all dolled up and headed to one of nice them bars in Mobile, when I met the most striking man I ever did see. Beric and I have been together ever since.”   
  
“I’m so happy for you Jeyne, really.”  
  
“Thank you Sansa. Now, I’m sure as shit you ain’t here to see little old me. Looking for that husband of yours?” Jeyne says with a knowing look.   
  
“I’d mighty appreciate if ya’ll stopped calling Jon my husband. We’ve been estranged for 6 years now. I’m here to get my damn divorce so this can finally be over and we can both move on. But since you asked, you haven’t seen him have you?”  
  
“He usually spends the morning at his studio, comes here around lunch. Never showed up today, I expect someone might have tipped him off about your visit.”  
  
“The only people who knew I was coming was my mother and Tormund, who else would have known to tell him? I swear to god, if he ran off somewhere to avoid me I’m going to murder him, then I won’t need a divorce. Does he still live in the same place?”  
  
“You mean that cute little cottage ya’ll did up when you were still in high school?”  
  
“If you’re trying to make me feel bad, it’s not gonna work Jeyne. And yes, I mean our place.” Sansa says, picking up her purse from where it sits on the bar stool.   
  
“Yeah yeah. He still lives there. The hide a key is still under the shutter on the window left of the front door too. Good luck.” Jeyne hollers as Sansa makes her way to the beat up old Jeep Wrangler she, and all of her siblings, used as a first car. Rickon was currently grounded, which sucked for him but was convenient timing for Sansa, so her mama gave her the keys for the time being.   
  
Now she only had to go back to the place where she broke Jon’s heart.   
  
Hers too.   
  
\-----------  
  
The house was dark when she pulled up, signaling that Jon was not there now. It only worried Sansa slightly, because he really could have taken off, but when she noticed the white lab laying silently in front of the front door, she gave a sigh of relief in knowing Jon would never leave Ghost alone for more than a few hours outside.   
  
As she climbed out of the Jeep, Ghost lifts his head, sniffing the air while his tail starts to _THAWAK THAWAK THAWAK_ against the pine boards of the porch. Even under all these new clothes and expensive perfume, she knows she’s still the same old Sansa when Ghost comes running down the steps and practically jumps on her.   
  
“I missed you too buddy.” She says as she gives him a good scratch behind the ear. “Now where did your master hide that key?”  
  
\------------  
  
Jon finds her curled up on the sofa, Ghosts head pillowed in her lap while she leafs through some art magazine she found on the coffee table.   
  
“Hello honey, I’m home.” Jon deadpans as he sets his keys in the bowl by the door, his hands coming to rest on his narrow hips as his lips set into a smug smirk.   
  
She would be lying if she said her heart didn’t clench a little at the sight of him.   
  
“Jon.” Is her only reply, starting to stand before being waved off by the man she once loved.   
  
“I’m gonna need a goddamn beer. You will too. I promise I aint gonna escape out the back door, just going to the kitchen.” He says, hands lifted as to show her he hasn’t grabbed his keys in an attempt at an exit.   
  
He returns moments later with two beers and a bottle opener, cracking the first one and handing it over to her before opening his own and downing half of it in a single breath.   
  
“Sign the papers Jon.” Is all Sansa can say, picking at the label on her bottle instead of actually drinking it.   
  
There’s a pause and then a sigh.  
  
“You know I can’t do that.” He answers finally, slowly, like he’s still trying to figure it out himself.   
  
“And why the hell not?” She asks, a little louder than she meant but finally looking up and into his eyes.   
  
“Because despite all the shitty things you did, despite the fact you packed up and _left me_ to go to fashion school in New York, despite the fact that you’re _engaged_ to someone else right now, we both know how this ends.”   
  
“Apparently, I don’t know Jon. Please enlighten me. Why, for five years, have you continuously sent back divorce papers unsigned, or with rude little comments to me or my lawyer? It sure as shit ain’t because you love me, or you wouldn’t have let me go.” She seethes, years of pent up frustration pouring out of her and onto Jon. Tears prickle at her eyes and she wipes them away quickly before they have a chance to fall.   
  
He sighs loudly, running his hand through his curls before turning his face upward and closing his eyes, as if God himself is going to give him some divine intervention.   
  
“That’s exactly the reason why. I let you go because I love you, probably more than I ever should have, because I’ve loved you since you were ten years old and we were on that beach in the storm. We’re not perfect, hell we’ve never been perfect, but I love you as much right now as I did at twelve, maybe more, despite only seeing your face in magazines and hearing your voice in news clips I find on YouTube.”  
  
“You search me on YouTube?” It’s a dumb question, really she knows it is, but it’s the first thing that pops in her mind.   
  
“I may talk slow, but I ain’t stupid. I know how to use Google. I half stalk your ass for some reason, driving myself crazy with pictures of you and that jackass you’re shacked up with. What’s his name, William?”  
  
“Willas.” She automatically corrects, regretting it when she sees the look of sadness in Jon’s eyes.   
  
“Yeah, that guy. Does he know you’re here?”   
  
“He knows I came to Alabama to see my parents. He has no idea I came here to get you to sign divorce papers.”  
  
“Ain’t his grandma the mayor of New York? How has she not learned that you’re already married?” Jon asks the question that lingers in the back of Sansa’s mind constantly.   
  
“Well, your guess is as good as mine. For all I know, she’s completely aware and is waiting until our rehearsal dinner to out me.”  
  
Their beers are now empty as they sit across from each other. Jon clears his throat before standing up and grabbing her empty bottle, taking it to the kitchen before returning with two more.   
  
“Do you love him?” He finally asks, handing Sansa her new bottle.   
  
She finally notices that he is still wearing his wedding band, the old gold one they bought at a pawn shop in Mobile when they decided to elope. She doesn’t want to admit that her heart clenches once again at the sight.   
  
She nods her head, putting on her best fake smile, even though it feels weak even to her.   
  
“I really do.” She has to stop herself from adding I think to the end of her sentence. “Willas is a great man, we’re very happy together.”  
  
The absolute look of hurt that washes over Jon in that moment almost kills her, almost makes her want to take it all back, almost makes her want to throw herself into Jon’s arms and promise him it’s always been him and only him.   
  
Almost.   
  
It's not enough though, not now after all these years. And that’s what is so damn heart breaking.   
  
“I’ll sign them. On one condition.”  
  
“Anything. You name it, you got it.” Sansa replies, just wanting to get him to agree so she can leave this house and all these haunting memories behind.   
  
“I want to meet him.”  
  
She knows she will regret this.  
  
\--------  
  
Getting Willas to agree to come to Wolf Creek is easy enough, even if it’s all a lie. She decides to pick him up herself, so she will have time to explain the whole story as they drive to her parents.   
  
Mama calls Robb in Montgomery, and Arya over in Pensacola to come in to meet Willas. Neither seem thrilled, both of them staunch supporters of Team Jon as Rickon put it, but agree after being berated by their mother on the phone for nearly an hour each.   
  
Bran is in Louisiana, studying at Tulane and won’t be able to make the trip on such short notice but promises to come to the wedding, tells her he loves her and he hopes she is happy.   
  
Rickon is still grounded, thanks to being caught sneaking back in after breaking curfew with Lyanna Mormont, and doesn’t have a choice in attendance. He asks Sansa if he can bring his girlfriend, since Robb will have his and Arya’s boyfriend will be there as well. Sansa agrees, hoping the more people there the better; it’s less likely Jon will cause a scene in front of everyone they know. She invites Brienne and Tormund for good measure regardless.   
  
Willas’ plane lands at 11am three days after he agrees to come meet her family. He’s dressed smartly, khaki colored dress slacks and light green button down, carrying a bouquet of roses as he climbs down the stairs of the private jet.   
  
“Willas!” Sansa squeals, throwing her arms around his neck as he gives her a delicate peck to the cheek.   
“Sansa, my love. I must admit, I never expected to see Alabama like this. It’s good to hear you’ve patched things up with your family and they wanted to meet me though.”  
  
“Yes darling. They are quite excited, so are my siblings.” Sansa tells him, as they grab his bags and head over to the Jeep.   
  
If Willas is surprised by the mention of siblings, Sansa misses his reaction because instead he’s staring at the Wrangler as if it’s going to turn into a dragon.  
  
“I had a friend in college, Oberyn, who drove a Wrangler just like this one. Oh the havoc we would get into in that jeep.” Her fiancé says fondly, almost lovingly, in a reminiscent tone.   
  
“You’ve mentioned him before. Your roommate right?”  
  
“Yes. Roommate.” Willas replies hastily. “Did you say siblings?”  
  
“Let’s get on the road first. I have a lot to tell you.”  
  
They are thirty minutes from Winterfell when Sansa finally stops talking. She’s covered basically everything, from her last name really being Stark to her siblings, to why she created a new identity for herself when she moved to New York. Basically all of it, except Jon that is.   
  
“Why did you never tell me any of this?” Willas asks, slightly shocked but seemingly not angry.  
  
“It’s complicated. The Starks are an old family, and I come from even older money than you do Wills. When I went to New York, I wanted to make a name for myself, not just because I’m a Stark. So I changed my identity, got into school on my own accord, and made a name for myself outside of my parents money. I needed to do it for myself, you can understand that right?”  
  
Willas sighs and shakes his head.   
  
“Is that everything?”  
  
“Almost. The last part is the hardest, most terrible, worst thing I’ve ever had to tell you. I’m so sorry for keeping all these things from you, but when we started seeing each other I never expected we would get to this point, and when it started progressing that way there was never a good time.”  
  
“How bad can it be? If it’s a child Sansa, I’ll more than willingly take care of it, love them like my own.”  
  
“It’s worse.”  
  
“An ex-husband then? So you’ve been married before, so what, that’s completely normal these days.” Willas says with a shrug, pulling her hand up to his lips.   
  
“Try still married?” Sansa says meekly.   
  
The color drains out of Willas as he drops her hand.   
  
“Still married? As in, never divorced?”  
  
“Not for lack of trying. I’ve been trying to get Jon to agree to sign the papers for five years, but he hasn’t budge on them. That’s why I came down here, to force him to do it. He finally agreed, but his condition was he wanted to meet you first.”  
  
“What? Why? So some big redneck can punch me in the face? Sansa.” Willas sighs as they pull into the drive of her parents plantation.   
  
“I swear, Jon will be on his best behavior. You have my word.”  
  
The drive up the dirt road that leads to Winterfell is quiet. Sansa knows Willas is disappointed, but he hasn’t asked her to take him back to the airport, which she takes as a good sign.   
  
They pull in next to Robbs car, Willas grabs his bags and they head up the front walk when Jon comes out of the front door, closely followed by Robb and Arya. Robb’s girlfriend, Dany, follows close behind, putting a hand on his elbow attempting to pull him back inside the house.   
  
Sansa should have seen the next thing coming.   
  
“Willas, right?” Jon says by way of introduction, walking calmly up to them.   
  
“Yes, and you must be Jon. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Willas says, oblivious to the next thing that’s about to happen, and holds his hand out to shake Jon’s.   
  
Jon looks at the hand being offered to him and snickers, before reaching back and clocking Willas square against the jaw. Willas crumples to the ground instantaneously, but Sansa’s first instinct is not to check on the man she will marry, but instead to storm after the one she’s still married to.  
  
“What in the hell was that Jon?”  
  
“Sorry Sansa, I can’t stay. I’ll sign your damn papers, but I’m not having dinner with this prick like you’re not breaking my fucking heart. Again. Have a nice wedding, I’m sure I’ll see the pictures in some stinking tabloid.”  
  
Arya glares at her from where she’s helping Willas, as a trained EMT who is in school to become a nurse, she has a begrudging obligation to make sure he’s okay.   
  
“This can’t get any worse.” She mumbles to herself, rubbing at her temples in an attempt to stop the head ache she feels coming on.  
  
\--------  
  
You can follow me [HERE](http://www.paperflowercrowns.tumblr.com) on Tumblr, where I fan girl about all sorts of things.   


**Author's Note:**

> This is not supposed to be an exact duplicate of the Reese Witherspoon film. A lot of the plot is borrowed from that but I've taken liberties, which is why I decided to post in two parts instead of one. Plus, I've never been to Alabama, so this is like SUPER fictionalized ya'll, please take everything with a grain of salt. I'm making up places and putting in real places, so enjoy the ride.


End file.
